Realm of Fear (episode)
Lieutenant Barclay faces his fear of transporting, but now he thinks that he's being attacked by a creature inside the transporter beam. Summary Teaser :"Captain's log, stardate 46041.1. We have located the , a Starfleet science vessel sent to the Igo sector to observe a remote plasma streamer. The ship has not been heard from in several days." The responds to the stricken vessel . The crew of the Yosemite seems to have disappeared, and due to its proximity to a plasma streamer, the only way to get there safely is by bridging the transporter systems of the two ships. As the away team prepares to beam over, Transporter Chief O'Brien informs them that due to disturbances in the plasma field, they may be experiencing problems during transportation. When Lieutenant Barclay hears this, he becomes very nervous and refuses to transport over, rushing out of the transporter room soon after Worf, Riker, and Crusher beam over one by one to the Yosemite. Act One Barclay, who is experiencing some form of transporter phobia, speaks to Counselor Troi about his troubles and she introduces him to a Betazoid relaxation technique known as plexing. However, completely unconvinced and still tapping himself on the neck as he walks out the door he returns to the transporter room, preparing himself for the ride. He's comforted a little by O'Brien, who tells him about his fear of spiders, which he conquered by crawling through a Jefferies tube past twenty Talarian hook spiders, to repair a damaged emitter array on Zayra IV. On the Yosemite, there's no sign of survivors, yet the escape pods are in place and the transporter is functional. Dr. Crusher finds a body, ship's engineer Joshua Kelly. When Barclay finally materializes on the Yosemite, Lieutenant Commander La Forge asks him to download the ship's science logs. They collect fragments from a broken container and the body for further analysis. Meanwhile, Picard communicates with Admiral , who mentions Ferengi allegations of Cardassian destruction of two freighters and is concerned that, if the Yosemite was attacked as well, it would signal large-scale movement in the sector. The landing party then beams back to the Enterprise. During transport, Barclay has an awful vision of a worm-like creature swimming around in the matter stream and touching his arm. He steps off of the transporter pad nervous and shaking. Act Two Barclay is in engineering with La Forge while they try putting the logs together. Seeing them too badly damaged, La Forge turns to the broken sample container for clues. Plagued by what he saw, however, he asks La Forge if he had ever seen anything unusual while he was being transported. La Forge says he hasn't. Barclay then tells La Forge of his recent experience and La Forge has the transporter undergo a full diagnostic. In the transporter room, despite the exhaustive diagnostic of all subsystems and La Forge's and O'Brien's insistence that "transporting really is the safest way to travel", Barclay marvels at the job the transporters do consistently without accidents, but also how easy they are to occur. He thinks back to his Transporter Theory classes at Starfleet Academy. The empirical evidence of only a couple accidents in the past ten years is hard to argue with, however. Barclay brings up transporter psychosis, too, but there hasn't been a case of that in the past fifty years. In sickbay, Dr. Crusher examines Kelly's body and determines it isn't alive, but residual ionization causes muscular activity. The heart starts beating, so Crusher quickly tries a cardiostimulator, but the activity disappears. Then, neuro-electric activity in the cerebral cortex is detected, then gone. He breathes, then it's gone. Barclay goes to Ten Forward to try to relax, but then finds his left arm glowing blue like during the transporter. Something must be wrong and he leaves. Act Three Barclay goes to his quarters, drinking lots of water and even going so far as to diagnose himself with transporter psychosis after asking the computer in his quarters for causes and symptoms from the Starfleet Medical Database. Barclay ascribes his symptoms, especially hallucinations, to his transporter psychosis but keeps quiet about it. On the observation deck, Crusher reports her findings, and they suspect that the ship's crew decided to beam aboard a container which exploded. La Forge and Data go to engineering to examine the container, and find the residual ionization that Dr. Crusher found on the body. Data suggests to re-create the beam-in. At the end of the conversation, Data and La Forge notice Barclay's preoccupation and La Forge asks him to get some rest. He also asks Counselor Troi to check on him, who then relieves him of duty temporarily when she finds him pacing the corridors and being agitated. However, while in his quarters, he finds his arm glowing again. Act Four Barclay decides to take action and goes to the transporter room, ordering O'Brien to transport him back and forth. He sees the creature again, and calls the senior staff to the observation deck to report what's been going on. Picard orders another diagnostic on the transporter system and calls for a level 3 security alert. Dr. Crusher also wants to run a micro-cellular scan on him, which does confirm the residual ionization like on the body and the sample container. Barclay is convinced re-creating the beam-in of the material will shed light, and Riker agrees. They attempt to recreate conditions on the Yosemite. They first take the precaution of setting up a force field around the container. A sample of the plasma streamer is beamed aboard the Enterprise successfully, however, while running a resonance frequency scan, it explodes, though the explosion is contained within the force field. La Forge also detects highly complex patterns of biomagnetic energy. Barclay suddenly collapses, and is taken to sickbay. Multiple parts of his body are glowing. Act Five In sickbay, La Forge tells Barclay the plasma is full of quasi-energy microbes, who disliked the scan and thus made the sample container explode. Dr. Crusher discovers some of the microbes from the Yosemite have gotten into Barclay's bloodstream during transport back to the Enterprise and this is what has been causing him the symptoms. La Forge and O'Brien decide the transporter could be used, once proper adjustments were made, to filter the microbes from Barclay's body while holding him in a stasis. In the transporter room, they run the process. Once Barclay is inside the beam, he sees the creepy creatures again. In a spontaneous act of bravery, the lieutenant appears to catch one of the creatures in his arms and doesn't let go. When he rematerializes, we see that he has another person in his grasp, one of the Yosemite crew members. Barclay tells the others that there are three more crew members caught in the matter stream. He sends a security team led by Worf and Kellogg in to save the rest of the Yosemite s crew from the transporter. Barclay explains to La Forge and the chief that while the crew of the Yosemite was trying to cleanse themselves of the quasi-energy microbes, Human patterns got trapped in the transporter which didn't allow them to escape. Worf and the away team return with the other three members of the Yosemite crew. :"Captain's log, stardate 46043.6. The reprogrammed biofilter was effective in removing the alien microbes from Mister Barclay and the four crewmembers. The microbes have been returned to the plasma streamer." O'Brien meets Barclay at Ten Forward, and shows him his pet Lycosa tarantula, whom he adopted and named Christina after getting over his arachnophobia. The chief remarks that he almost stepped on her when he discovered her on Titus IV. He gets up to grab some drinks, while the tarantula crawls up Barclay's arm, who is nervously waiting for O'Brien to return… Memorable quotes "I'm sorry, I just ''can't do this!" : - '''Barclay', refusing to use the transporter to beam over to the Yosemite "I know, it sounds crazy, but…" "It's not crazy at all. You ''are being taken apart molecule by molecule." : - '''Barclay', discussing his phobia of the transporter with Troi "I'm going to beam over there. I can do it!" : - Barclay, after Troi teaches him plexing "See, sir? That wasn't so bad, was it?" : - O'Brien, after Barclay has his first encounter with a quasi-energy microbe in the matter stream "Reg, transporting really is the safest way to travel." : - La Forge "Commander La Forge said you seemed a little nervous this morning." "I'm always nervous. Everybody knows that." : - Troi and Barclay (Gentle ocean and bird noises playing) "Mmm… computer, more birds." (Loud squawking) (More frustrated) "End stress reduction program. Water." "Specify temperature." "I don't care! Just give me water!" : - Barclay, to the computer "Chief." "Lieutenant. Glad you could make it. You know, I think this is the first time we've ever spoken outside of the transporter room." "Well, to be honest, I've always avoided you." "Why?" "Because you run the transporters, and I hate the transporters. At least, I used to." : - Barclay and O'Brien "Uh, Chief?" : - Barclay, getting nervous when O'Brien's pet tarantula crawls on his hand Background information Production history * Final draft script: * Premiere airdate: * First UK airdate: Story and production * Brannon Braga enjoyed writing this episode. "Certainly, it was one of my most personal episodes. People around here say I am Barclay. I hate flying and that's where the idea came from. If I lived in the 24th century, I'd be afraid to transport, so I enjoyed exploring some of the deeper neuroses that Barclay had." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) * Michael Piller remarked, "I always like the Barclay shows. I think it's a perfectly valid fear to explore, whether you have a phobia about spiders or about being molecularly taken apart and put back together. As ''Star Trek viewers we have come to take it for granted, but why shouldn't somebody be afraid to get into a transporter? I had always felt that there were too many similarities to where Shatner looks out and sees the creature on the wing of the plane. I felt very strongly we needed to get the episode away from that, and I think we succeeded." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) * Zayra IV was named for production staff associate Zayra Cabot. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion) * The creatures were designed by Dan Curry and built by modelmaker Carey Howe. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, ) Curry, covered in a green suit, later puppeteered the creatures. ("Departmental Briefing Year Six – Profile: Dan Curry", TNG Season 6 DVD special feature) Props and settings * The red giant and white dwarf in the Igo sector seen in this episode were originally from and later re-used as a similar stellar phenomenon in the Topin system in . * The multi-level Jefferies tube set, directly attached to main engineering, appears for the first time in this episode. Continuity * This episode marks the first appearance of the Admiral's uniform which was used for the rest of the series and much of , although inexplicably Admiral is seen here without the standard combadge. * O'Brien's collar insignia changes from lieutenant (two pips) to chief (one black pip) in this episode. According to the ''Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, this was done to reinforce the plot point that Lieutenant jg Barclay outranks O'Brien. See also: Miles O'Brien - Rank Inconsistencies. * A brief insert shot of Barclay getting a glass of water from his replicator is a stock shot from , as Riker's red Starfleet uniform can be seen reflected from inside the replicator. * Barclay mentions in this episode that spiders never bothered him. Later, in (also written by Brannon Braga), Barclay de-evolved into a spider-like creature. * This is the first and only time O'Brien's pet tarantula, Christina, is seen or mentioned. * This episode is the first to show a first-person perspective of the transport process; the only other time this was done is in . * While expressing his fear of transporting, Barclay asks La Forge, "Commander, has anything strange ever happened to you during transport… anything out of the ordinary?" La Forge answered dismissively, "No, not really." However, in an episode during the previous season, La Forge himself was involved in a transporter malfunction that transported him and Ensign Ro out of phase with the rest of reality. They were reported missing, and presumed dead. They ultimately rematerialized in the midst of their own memorial service. ( ) Reception * Jeri Taylor observed, "This was an episode that a lot of people just didn't respond to and I don't know why. I thought it was a wonderful idea. I thought Brannon wrote a terrific script. It just seemed so perfect, Barclay with a transporter phobia just seemed like a marvelous marriage of something people can relate to today and in the future: technology. I just thought everything worked with the exception of the visual effects. The explanation by the end really got painfully detailed. And it's that fine line you try to draw, if we don't say this, is the audience going to be fairly confused and cheated because they don't understand it? But if we do say it, are they going to be overwhelmed by the words? We went one way in "Time's Arrow II," and maybe we tried too hard to explain things in "Realm of Fear," but it's hard to strike that back." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) * Braga recalled, "I envisioned a scarier episode where the creatures in the transporter were a little more frightening, but then again what a tall order to the effects guys, 'Make it amorphous, but terrifying.' What does that mean? It's easy to write that, but difficult to visualize. I just wanted you to feel scared with this guy and you never really did." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages) Video and DVD releases * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 64, * As part of the TNG Season 6 DVD collection Links and references Starring * Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard * Jonathan Frakes as Cmdr. William Riker Also starring *LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge *Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf *Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher *Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi *Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data Guest stars * Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien * Patti Yasutake as Alyssa Ogawa ;And * Dwight Schultz as Barclay Co-stars * Renata Scott as * Thomas Belgrey as Crewmember * Majel Barrett as computer voice Uncredited co-stars * K.C. Amos as operations division officer * David Keith Anderson as Armstrong * Lena Banks as operations division ensign * Steven Boz as operations division ensign * Michael Braveheart as Martinez * Cameron as Kellogg * Cullen Chambers as civilian * Tracee Lee Cocco as Jae * John Copage as science division officer * Debra Dilley as operations division ensign * Hal Donahue as command division lieutenant * Elliot Durant III as civilian * Gunnel Eriksson as science division officer * Holiday Freeman as a command division officer * Gina Gallante as science division ensign * Goldie Ann Gareza as civilian * Christie Haydon as command division ensign * Kerry Hoyt as operations division ensign * Gary Hunter as science division officer * Arvo Katajisto as Torigan * Mark Lentry as civilian * Debbie Marsh as command division ensign * Brandy Pickett as science division officer * Keith Rayve as command division ensign * Richard Sarstedt as command division ensign * Victor Sein as command division officer * Talbot as Ten Forward waitress * Curt Truman as command division officer * Christina Wegler Miles as command division ensign * Bradley Weinholtz as Joshua Kelly * Unknown performers as ** ** Female civilian ** Female operations division officer ** Female science division officer ** Science division officer ** Ten Forward waiter ** [[Yosemite crewmen 001|Three Yosemite crewmembers]] Stand-ins * David Keith Anderson – stand-in for LeVar Burton * Carl David Burks – stand-in for Brent Spiner * Michael Echols – stand-in for Michael Dorn * Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis * Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden * Richard Sarstedt – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes * Dennis Tracy – stand-in for Patrick Stewart * Guy Vardaman – stand-in for Dwight Schultz References 2209; 2319; atom; autonomic system; away team; base pair correlation; biofilter; Cardassian; Cardassian warship; cardiostimulator; carotid artery; Celsius; cerebral cortex; Christina; counselor's office; day; Delinia II; dehydration; distortion field; DNA; endorphin; epidermis; explosive device; eyesight; Ferengi; Ferengi freighters; hallucination; heart; heart rate; Heisenberg compensator; hysteria; ignorance; Igo sector; imaging scanner; ionic field; ionic interference; Jefferies tube; kiloquad; level 3 security alert; level 5 containment field; Lycosa tarantula; matter-energy conversion; matter stream; medical tricorder; meter; micro-cellular scan; monitoring device; multi-infarct dementia; muscular contraction; myopia; neurochemistry; ; Olafson; pattern buffer; phased matter; phase transition coil; plasma streamer; plexing; psychogenic; quasi-energy microbe; resonance frequency scan; safety precaution; sample container; science vessel (aka science ship); sleeplessness; Starfleet Medical Database; stellar cartography; stress reduction program; systemic contraction; systems engineer; Talarian hook spider; temperature; tissue sample; Titus IV; transport chamber; transport cycle; transporter; transporter accident; transporter beam; transporter chief; transporter platform; transporter psychosis; Transporter Room 3; transporter sensor; transporter system; Transporter Theory; VISOR; water; ; Zayra IV External links * * * * |next= }} de:Todesangst beim Beamen es:Realm of Fear fr:Realm of Fear (épisode) ja:プラズマ放電の謎（エピソード） nl:Realm of Fear pl:Realm of Fear Category:TNG episodes